Post-LASPO and the role of diversity in family law

Celebrations and policy campaigns continue to mark a 100 years of women in law. In 2017 as reported in the Law Society’s Annual Statistics Report Flyer 2018  ‘for the first time the number of female practising certificate (PC) holders exceeded male colleagues…women made up 50.1% of all PC holders – up from 43.4% in 2007.’ Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) professionals as practising solicitors were at its highest at 16.5% of the profession. While significant strives have been made little attention has been paid to the impact of the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) on the role of diversity with particular reference to women and BAME in family law.

 

Diversity in law took hold in 1922 when the Law Society formally recognised women as legal practitioners in law. Naturally gender set itself as the rudimentary benchmark for diversity. The impetus for institutional recognition it could be said began with the parliamentary narrative on the role and inclusion of women (as seen in the campaigns surrounding abortion...